UBS AG to pay $1.5 billion for manipulating Libor

Just when you thought the world’s confidence in banks couldn’t get any lower, another one decides to jump into the mud puddle of fraud and roll around a little bit. This time it’s UBS AG, a large Swiss bank, which agreed Wednesday to pay $1.5 billion in fines for its role in a scheme to manipulate the London interbank offered rate (Libor).

Libor is the daily calculated average interest rate that international banks charge each other for short-term loans. Barclays PLC, of the U.K., was the first bank to settle over the rate manipulation scandal, making UBS the second. It will pay its $1.5 billion to regulators in the U.S., U.K. and Switzerland.

In a statement, the bank admitted that “certain UBS personnel engaged in efforts to manipulate submissions for certain benchmark rates to benefit trading positions,” and added “UBS has fully cooperated with the authorities in their investigations and significantly enhanced its control framework for its submissions process for LIBOR and other benchmark interest rates.”